Hungary received doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Russia
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Monday said that Hungary received doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Russia, in a new display of maverick vaccine policy in Budapest.
In a Facebook video message, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that 6,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Russia crossed Hungary’s border with Slovakia.
Although Szijjarto didn’t provide any details on the Russian COVID-19 vaccine’s potential rollout, he said that the consignment was taken to Budapest for a decision by Hungarian experts on how to use it.
The said announcement came after Hungary began vaccinations on Saturday ahead of most European Union (EU) countries after receiving its first delivery of COVID-19 vaccines from BioNTech and Pfizer.
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The move by Budapest sidestepped the European Union’s coordinated approach to vaccinations which started on Sunday across most of the 27-member bloc.
It was last month when Szijjarto said that Hungary became the first European country to receive samples for testing of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, while Hungarian experts and doctors had visited Russia in order to study its production.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had yet to assess the COVID-19 vaccine from Russia, which Moscow said had shown 95% effectiveness in clinical trials.
However, Russian and Western experts had raised concerns over the fast-tracked COVID-9 vaccines and critics had described it as a tool to bolster the geopolitical influence of Russia.
“Hungary is open to all successful vaccine developments around the world. We are doing our best to bring to Hungary as fast as possible all effective vaccines whether they are created in the West or in the East,” Szijjarto said.
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